I failed
by A Liar called Jago
Summary: Loki failed. He has not delivered the Tesseract. He knows that someday he has to pay for his faliure.


"_If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevasse where he can't find you. You think you know pain? You will wish to receive something as sweet as pain."_

I am not sure what to make of it.

My brother has destroyed a thousand lifes, he has wreaked havoc in Midgard and he has played so many people off against each other. Could it be that he was malicious to the core? Was there no shred of empathy left in him? Was he no longer able to feel anything but rage and hatred? But why…? Why must he always sheme and plot, and cause trouble and confusion? I can see no point in that.

When I look at him, sitting in this tiny square cell made out of a special and very strong glass, I can only detect resentment in his features. But there has to be more, I am certain. Nick Fury is now questioning him. He asked all of us to surround the cell and stay alert, in case my brother tries to escape or worse. Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and Steve were keeping an eye on him while listening to the one-sided conversation. The Tesseract was secured, the Chitauri destroyed but Fury wanted to make sure, that there was no plan B, that Loki had no ace up his sleeve. Of course I told Nick, that if my brother had indeed something further planned, there was no way of finding out.

It puzzles me. Why isn't Loki talking back? He is usually so slick and silver-tongued. Yes, we defeated him but in a situation like that, he would either curse us all or try to wind us round his little finger. Yet he remains silent. I observe my brother closely now and dare not to blink. I am sure that…

There it is! Just for a second. Barely visible but now I have proof. Loki is afraid. Nay, he is petrified. That is the reason, why he has not said a word yet. Though what might be the cause? It's not because of Nick Furys interrogation technique and the Avengers can also be ruled out. He is frightened of someone or something else.

"This is your last chance to say whatever you wanna say", Nick Fury waits for a few seconds but gets no response from Loki. The god continues to stare into space. "Alright then, let's get you ready for the transport to Asgard." Fury puts a muzzle on Loki and checks the handcuffs. "Get up", he tells him, but the Trickster does not even make an attempt to follow this order. "Come one. Do not pull any kind of stunt! You are surrounded by…" I can see why Nick Fury stopped mid-sentence. Everyone in the room is caught off guard, including me. Although I'd caught a glimpse of Lokis true condition before. "Is he…I mean…he's not…"Tony stutters, raising one eyebrow and looks at me. I give him a quick nod as an answer and go to the door of the little glass cell. "Nick Fury, I ask you to let me inside. I need to speak to my brother." "By all means. Knock yourself out. But be careful, this could be yet another trick", said the agent as he steps out of the cell and makes room for me. Loki does not move. He sits on the chair as if he's frozen to it. He stares to the ground in an effort to hide from us what was happening to him. Tears are rolling down his cheeks silently, some are disappearing in the leathery parts of the muzzle and some are falling onto the glass floor.

"Brother, talk to me. What is it that you are so afraid of?" I can hear the other Avengers whisper to each other: "Afraid?...Loki?...Why should he be?...Oh, give me a break. Can't you see, he is just playing an act…ssshht, I wanna hear this."

It is highly visible that Loki is fighting hard to regain his composure, but fails to do so. I reach out in attempt to free my brother from the muzzle but to my surprise, he jerks his head away and closes his eyes. Suddenly a figure materializes next to me. It appears to be one of Lokis clones in full battle armor. He stands there and glares at me, the oh so familiar hatred in his eyes again. He snorts in disgust and growls at me: "You don't get it, do you? You are so full of yourself. Always the knight in the shining armor, the good prince, the protector. You repel me! Have you ever wasted a single thought on my situation? You will bathe in glory and I will perish in agony!" The clone spits his words out as if they were something rotten. The whole thing bewilders me. There is the real Loki, still sitting on a chair, crying and paying no attention whatsoever to me or his second self.

"I do not understand, brother. I begged you to stop and come home with me. To live in Asgard again. In peace. But you refused. So I had to fight you and your allies in order to protect the people of Midgard. And you will not perish. Odin will not kill you. He has to punish you for what you did but it's not going to be your execution. You don't have to be afraid."

"I am not afraid!" the clone shouts at me. "I am not afraid of Odin's wrath!"

My eyes wander from the clone to the sobbing figure. "So why are you crying then, Loki?" I ask him calmly. He does not respond but the clone continues to shout at me. "What are you doing? Do not turn your back on me! I'm warning you!" I ignore him completely. If Loki wants to tell me something he has to do it in person. I grab my brother by his shoulders and raise him to his feet. The clone immediately shuts up, starts to flicker and finally disappears.

I free Loki from his muzzle and this time he does not draw back. "Why are you crying?" I ask him again. He looks up, his eyes red and watery. He seems haggard and weak. "I failed. I haven't delivered the Tesseract. He will find me", Loki whispers and shudders. I have never seen him like that.

"Who will find you?"

But instead of an answer, Loki starts crying again. I pull him into a hug because I do not know what else I should do. "No one will harm you. I promise that I will protect you, Loki!" I can feel his warm breath at my ear and then he whispers: "Will you?" "Of course I will. You are my brother, Loki!" The minute I finish the sentence, I can feel his whole body tense. With a force that I had not expected him to muster, Loki pushes me away and my body hits the glass wall, leaving a slight crack behind.

My brother starts to laugh but it is far from cheerful. It sounds sick and insane. He sits down on his chair and says with a grin: "You won't be able to." And then from one second to the other, his features change, he locks eyes with me and I can see his anger rise again. He takes a deep breath and screams as loud as he can: "YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO!"

"I will try", I say dryly. Feeling that he is about to attack me again, I hold him down so that he can't get up from the chair. Suddenly Nick Fury stands beside us and places the muzzle back on Loki's mouth. "You are going to shut up now" he commands. "We have to get going now." He is right. It is time for Loki and me to go back to Asgard. And whatever may come after my brother, I will do as I promised and try to protect him. Loki has calmed himself. The anger has subsided and all I can see in his eyes now, is resignation.


End file.
